October 2015

A few days ago I returned from a short trip to London, England. While there, I toured Westminster Abbey and spent several minutes in an area of the abbey called Poet’s Corner, where many famous writers are either buried or commemorated with plaques on the walls and floor. With such recognition, there is no question … Continue reading…

Meet our new Vice President, Jill McCauslin! Jill left in-house employment about one year ago to work full-time at her company, WhitePoint Professionals. Right now, she works as an instructional designer for a few different clients. She says, “I’ve done work for both instructor-led training and elearning courses. I have a small office on the … Continue reading…

On September 10th, Tricia Spayer of Pressco Technology kicked off the new program year with an engaging talk about using effective visuals in technical communication. Drawing on her 20 years of experience in technical illustration, Tricia provided guidance in these areas: Making illustrations more useful How to not scream amateur Following ISO standards for icons … Continue reading…

Now is the time to join or renew your STC membership for 2016! Current members with a Classic membership can take $30 off the price of their renewal. To receive this limited-time discount, use promo code STC2016 on the payment page. This offer expires in early December, so act now. Members who renew now receive 15 … Continue reading…

Fresh off the Content Marketing World (CMW) Conference in Cleveland, full of new ideas and ways to connect our NEO Chapter’s social media theme for the year, pay homage to the National Day on Writing and include human interest stories—killing several birds with one stone—my mind turned to writing about a special person I am privileged to … Continue reading…

From Jules Verne’s moon landing in From Earth to the Moon, to the water beds that Robert Heinlein predicted in Beyond This Horizon, sci-fi writers have predicted the future in some eerily accurate ways. So when our tech caught up with their imaginations, many sci-fi authors had conveniently already come up with the words for … Continue reading…

A newsletter is a great communications tool. At The JPT Group, they’re one of our specialties. And, with the advent of the electronic newsletter, they’ve never been easier or more cost effective. But, they’re not for everyone. Before you start down that road, there are (at least) three questions that you need to ask yourself. … Continue reading…

Our chapter president, Brian Smith, recently asked us to think about the National Day on Writing. Here are some thoughts about what writing means to some of us in NEO STC. Please let us know your thoughts on how you would complete the phrase. Contact us as newsletter@neostc.org.   To me writing means… empowering people … Continue reading…

October 20 of this year (and every year) is the National Day on Writing. “Lines & Letters” is looking for articles about this topic. Please contact us at newsletter@neostc.org with your ideas or drafts. Let’s honor this year’s social media theme, and combine that with writing to extend the National Day on Writing to a year … Continue reading…

Technical writers can bring their skills of communicating clearly about technical topics to today’s world of digital marketing. This can apply to communication about important current topics in the field including programmatic ads, B2B digital marketing, mobile applications, and skills digital marketers need today to be successful. Going along with this idea of communicating clearly … Continue reading…

The site at http://www.ncte.org/dayonwriting explains that the National Day on Writing recognizes “the significance of writing in our national life, draws attention to the remarkable variety of writing we engage in, and helps writers from all walks of life recognize how important writing is to their lives.” The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) established the … Continue reading…